Free Plague by Ann Turnbull Page A

course, William Kemp beat Sam when he was lazy or at fault, but he didn’t starve or overwork him the way some masters did. Sam had always wanted a family. Now he had Master Kemp and Alice – and Budge.
    Alice cut hunks of bread and ladled stew into bowls. “My mother says she wishes I was home. She’s afraid for me.”
    Alice’s mother lived across the river, at Southwark.
    â€œYou won’t leave us, will you?” asked Sam in alarm.
    â€œOf course not, silly!” Alice ruffled his hair. “I like earning my own living here. Besides, there are four younger ones back home to feed and clothe, so my money helps.” She smiled – a small, tight smile.
    â€œWe’ll get through this together,” William Kemp assured them both. “I’ve lived through times of plague before. It’ll come to an end when the cold weather arrives, and we’ll all survive, God willing.”

2
All Cats and Dogs
    The next day Sam was running an errand in Cheapside when the town crier appeared and began ringing a bell.
    â€œâ€¦all cats and dogs,” Sam heard as he drew closer. “Carts will be sent around the streets. Drivers will be paid a bounty of two pennies for every corpse brought in. All cats and dogs to be killed! Diseased animals carry the plague as they run about the city…”
    Budge isn’t diseased!
thought Sam.
He has a few fleas, but don’t we all? And he doesn’t run about – well… not much. He guards the shop, and he sits in the sun. And I love him. They can’t kill Budge!
    He ran home to tell his master and Alice.
    â€œDon’t worry. We’ll keep him in,” said William Kemp. “They don’t have the right to search people’s houses.”
    But Budge didn’t want to be kept in. The doorstep was his favourite place. He liked to sit there and watch all the life of the busy street. Inside, he barked and whined and scrabbled at the door.
    A few days later a cart came downthe street and they heard the squeals of animals cornered and clubbed to death. The men joked as they tossed the corpses into their cart.
    â€œUgh! That’s horrible!” exclaimed Alice. “Come away from the window, Sam.”
    â€œTuppence a corpse – you can’t blame them,” said William Kemp.
    But they don’t have to enjoy it
, Sam thought.
    It was impossible to ignore the danger now, with Budge hidden indoors, and news that the King and all his people had moved out of London to Hampton Court to escape the pestilence.
    â€œThere’s a man in Bread Street selling medicine,” said Alice. “He says it’ll keep you safe from plague. People were queuing up to buy it.”
    â€œWhat’s in it?” asked William Kemp.
    â€œSome secret remedy from the East, he says.”
    â€œRubbish!” scoffed Master Kemp.
    But later that day he sent Alice to buy a bottle of it, just in case.
    He drank some himself and gave a spoonful to Sam. The cloudy green liquid tasted disgusting. It made Sam feel sick. But Master Kemp said they should all take some every day.
    Alice also bought posies of herbs from a woman in the market. She gave one to Sam.
    â€œHold it close to your nose and mouth when you go out,” she said, a serious look in her eyes. “It’ll protect you from infected air.”
    â€œAnd walk near the middle of the road,” William Kemp added. “Don’t get too close to other people.”
    Everyone took precautions. But the next week, when the weather was hotter than ever, they heard that Sam’s friend John Jenks had died of plague. Sam saw his friend’s body, tied in a shroud, put on a cart with a heap of others and taken away – no coffin,no bearers to carry him to the churchyard.
    The house where John had lived was shut up and the door padlocked. A red cross was painted on the door and, next to it, the words, ‘Lord have mercy upon us’. No one